Despite what can be politely called a tough 2019 for intu, the shopping centre REIT has reasons to be cheerful according to a new ranking by GlobalData.
Its Top 50 Shopping Centres Report 2019 has intu as landlord to the highest number of malls within its top 20. The REIT has a total of nine centres in the top 20. Its mall in Watford was the biggest riser in the ranking, moving up 10 places on 2018 to position number 26.
GlobalData said that a £180m investment programme, which had boosted the choice of food outlets and leisure offer, had pushed intu Watford up the rankings.
The rankings are based on consumer and B2B research, using data from landlords, property experts and shoppers.
Westfield’s two London malls at White City, W12, and Stratford, E20, retained the top two spots in the ranking with Bluewater in Kent in third.
Outside of London and the South East, the majority of the remainder of the top 20 is made up of British Land’s Meadowhall and intu’s Metrocentre and Trafford centre.
The prime reason for visiting shopping centres remains the diversity of retailers and products on offer, with 55.6% of shoppers citing the presence of their favourite retailer – identified as Primark for most shoppers – and 56.1% citing the variety of retailers.
While retail continues to be the key driver bringing shoppers to malls, GlobalData said that food and leisure options continued to be a key factor. Some 83.1% of shoppers undertook leisure activities while visiting a shopping centre in 2019, up 2.5 percentage points on 2018. Almost a quarter of all consumers said they visited a shopping centre for the purpose of eating out or using the leisure facilities.
Joseph Robinson, retail consulting director at GlobalData, said: “More than one third of shoppers (36.6%) visit shopping centres at least twice a month with the average shopper making 17.3 trips a year – up from 15.9 in 2018. And confounding today’s modern myth that young people don’t like to visit physical shops, the research shows that under 35’s remain the most frequent visitors.
“As retail spend continues to shift online, shopping centres play an important role in facilitating the multichannel shopping journey with the proportion of shoppers visiting in order to return or collect an online order, rising on 2018.”
Click here to view the rankings in full.
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